As Michal picked up a book to find a reading for us tonight, the pages fell open to an unfamiliar place. We did not know the reading would speak so clearly to us about the passing of our dear friend Diane earlier in the day.
"In any moment," writes Jon Kabat-Zinn, "we can reconnect with our body, transcend the body, merge with the breath, with the universe, experience ourselves as whole and folded into larger and larger wholes. A taste of interconnectedness brings deep knowledge of belonging, a sense of being an intimate part of things, a sense of being at home wherever we are."
Such a "taste" can shift how we inhabit our lives. As Kabat-Zinn says, "We may taste and wonder at an ancient timelessness beyond birth and death.... we may find ourselves coming to terms with things as they are, a deepening of understanding and compassion, a lessening of anguish and despair."
"Wholeness is the root of everything that the words health, healing, and holy signify in our language and our culture. When we perceive our intrinsic wholeness, ....we are free to choose a path for ourselves.... Open and receptive, we find balance and harmony right here, all space folded into this place, all moments folded into this moment."
"Wherever You Go, There You Are" pages 226-227.